A Thousand Times Before

DEBUT Thanki pens a lightly historical, mystical, and multigenerational tale initiated during the Partition between Pakistan and India in 1947 and concluding in modern-day New York. It primarily centers around the life of Amla. Readers learn first of her carefree childhood in Karachi, which lasted until her family was forced to relocate to Gujarat by the impending political conflict brought by Partition. Amla’s tales of hardship reveal details of her arranged marriage at age 17 to a misogynistic Gujarati man, but much of the novel focuses on the relationships between women, including the bonds between Amla and her aunt Meenafa and between the adult Amla and her own daughters. Utilizing art as a theme, Thanki successfully builds an engrossing and often-heartbreaking tale that is further bound together by the magical properties of an heirloom tapestry that the women in Amla’s family inherit. Her richly drawn-out work also touches upon themes including gender equality, caste, family, friendship, and love.